Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-10-01
South African Diamond Mines

Gsriner F. Williams, for many years identified with the hydT8ulc interests oi
 this state. left his hume CD Thursday ibst
 with hIs family, 10 go 10 take charge oi | the De Beers mIDe in the kImOt rley ! diam md fields ot EOuth Africa. Mr. ! Williams goes ont as Geuearl manager | under tSy lesEs FlgsCruent. h recent ! uUm.;eT- oi the P.ess we have given R general descTIptitL Of tEe 10 thc.s of | mining in these diamond the ar
 iIcles having beea from the pen of Mir. | Williams
 The De Beers mine IS one 0f tue larg- est in Africa sad IS valued at gbOu. S2j.- ] CO0,OOO. Ibe company have DO" pur ! chased all Of the ground IH tEr lHmedi- ate vicinity, forming one whole mine ! that oi Do Beers. Ibey have elr a pur- | chased from a French oOmpguy tp- five an1 half I1ilioUs of dollars C. trip of
 ground m The fGnol7 Kimberly mine. rhi, pIec- uf ground oUm9risCs about uue acre IT axies; vnly.
 Mr. Williams states tcat tI- diamond ] l,lds are n1 place Tor people Co go from acre e5 he. Q Tr1srEc. C. :- Cork. The ! trip ls q vefy exOtEsivs one. Most of ! ,hs ms1 employed there ore natives, Of which the De Beers mIue alone Cm- ! nlnys .UU0. There are orly L1.c. 200 tO ] 501 whi'e men who are mainly contract ! ors. OyeT-ecfs and guari1. IEe kafii 8 ! o1iy aufk sIogt four o- five dsvs 70 the { week Wi.E 0 good Rrasc. IGey are ! pretty good Tocsu.E fOC lte c!ass of ! work they fo.
 lbe D. B e-- mine p5!d : !,tv1 OOO n | diyiiends lls. year, working Culy part 1 cf the mine, hut they now Esys hi the ! ground, gs stated above. Olt Of Q 5x7 shaft they Lol>; 3i0) lo8d- E dey. be- | +id ss sending down gli tEe n itsIisl. men ] etc. but tre present arrange Inent Is " lnconveuieut. With two small Ekips running in these ehafts. they have been | atle to hoist l9t0 lOads Iu ten hours,
 each load consisting of l6 cuhic feet of ! diamOndiferuus nsieFIsl; three loads
 are hoisted ID each skip. The shaft IS ! 537 feet deep vertically and 600 feet deep
 -ou the incline. Mr. Williams Will sink a
 shaft wlth two double compartments thes
 shafts will be suuk to the 7GO-flot level.
 Another shsfs vill be sunk SOO feet. One
 of these is,nOw down 600 feet. With sll | tue shafts they will nave h0istiny cA- | pacity abOu l4.OJJ loads a day. Each ! lssd IS l6 cublt feet, and each yields . T IIlNtN IT EsaE UaN 0A uat'NN1ANu @NA UT NAE | 20 shilIIugs carat. The Crouad runs quite eyen, and the genere! average of | ths dianoudiferuus rcu,er;al "a lf~ut as ] stuted. Tn fact they cen 'eil so0us ! what the yield will bs every day, the : output being very uniform
 No tiM5eTs are used in ttcss mines, except m tbe shafts, timber beIUg very [ scarce in that un;ry; in fact, In ob- | taining the timber for the neE shafts, | almcst "A whole forest gas cus down, ! the forests being y-Ty small, and ! the government forester prevented any | farther cutting on this tract, s' that 7 portions of the timber had to Ee seeur- | cd from private owners.
 ! The only sys.em which they have been | able to adopt n working this ground underneath IS the same adopted m the
 henstite mines in England; that ls, by
 leaving roofs and pillars and then by ! r,bbinR them aitergsrd. A railroad TOW runs from Cane Town up to the | Kin berleY mipe-, GiD m!les- " sieE Is | drought into the TWO nine " the him- | hef.y Water WCrks, who brinc the water
 al ml!es. piping It ID fO0 feet and then ! piping 1t dJwE. Mr. Williams stated ' that for eight mOnths ID ine year the | climate is D0t g. dIsaCTeesble ts many
 suppose, although iCur months ot the | summer are ezceedi1gly Lot. Ibe ns- | tive vorkmar, however, ind DO 'ncon- veuince ia tAis Most of the mines ID | the Kimberley fields were formerly own ! ei ;n very small tracts. NoN. however, | they are owned by conpan'es who nave l pu-ria-ei Al tba smsll cisID- snd made l single nIUs= Cf them. better c1nVen- ' ie1 e for working. Pfess.